Consultants to the MMRDA will not just have to rework the real estate rates, which, say developers, are exorbitant, but also work on complaints of uneven infrastructure. Along with CIDCO, the MMRDA is seen as a government agency which refuses to follow market dictates and contribute in keeping land prices at unnaturally high rates. Defending the authority, however, Jha said that it has lowered rates for some of itsclients.

But the slow progress of the diamond bourse does little to give the complex's image a boost. ``As far as the diamond bourse is concerned, we are not responsible, it is the people concerned who have to get their act together,'' said Jha.

He admitted that problems of good access roads exist, but blamed the construction activity for its rapid erosion. As for the financial district of the BKC, he expressed his satisfaction. ``The financial district of the BKC is doing fine since ICICI, Citibank and UTI have moved in. The building for the American School is nearing completion'', he said.

The commissioner felt that the recent government notification allowing for office spaces in the island city would not affect the BKC's development but lead to healthy competition. The state government recently revoked a ban set in place in 1976 and notified its decision to open the island city for office spaces, stating the need to make the city more competitive and reduce rentals.``The competition in any case willbe unequal, since one would not be able to construct office buildings like in the BKC. Office spaces in the island city would be for smaller players, since it would offer at the most only around 5,000 sq feet in the island city,'' he noted.

In any case, he pointed out that MMRDA was not interested in playing the role of a developer. ``It is not that we are not able to market the BKC, but we would want it to be more aggressive. The ultimate aim of MMRDA is not to make money, for money's sake, but to invest the money in the infrastructure'', he said.

The MMRDA recently forwarded around Rs 300 crore to the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC). An equal amount is pledged to the Shivshahi Punarvasan Prakalp Ltd (SPPL). The authority has also loaned money to the Maharashtra Jeevan Pradhikaran, working for a `tanker-free' state by the 21st century. However, the reservations that officers of the MMRDA had on giving loans to the SPPL, has led to the creation of a status paper on the roleenvisaged of the MMRDA in the metropolitan region, which extends upto Kalyan and Virar. The paper expounds on the objectives of the MMRDA, its priorities within these objectives and the process it will have to undertake to bring its objectives to fruition.